Simon Winchester

Description

Journalist; Author, A Crack in the Edge of the World and The Men Who United the States: America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible ; Twitter: @vbelgarum

For more than two centuries, E pluribus unum - Out of many, one -­ has been featured on Americašs official government seas and stamped on its currency. But how did America become "one nation, indivisible"? What unified a growing number of disparate states into the modern country we recognize today? Winchester follows in the footsteps of Americašs most essential explorers, thinkers and innovators, including Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery expedition to the Pacific Coast, the builders of the first transcontinental telegraphy, and the powerful civil engineer behind the Interstate Highway System. He treks vast swaths of territory, from Pittsburgh to Portland; Rochester to San Francisco; Truckee to Laramie; Seattle to Anchorage, introducing these fascinating men and others - some familiar, some forgotten, some hardly known ­- who played a pivotal role in creating today's United States. Join us as the acclaimed New York Times best-selling author takes a fascinating look at the men whose efforts and achievements helped unify the states and created one cohesive nation.